Technology advancement has made E-commerce so popular. You can shop anything online from the comfort of your home including gemstones.
Nevertheless, shopping for gemstones online can be quite challenging with all the fake items available. This is why you have to be very keen while shopping for you to get quality stones. The first thing you need to do before purchasing any gemstones online is viewing a video of the item.
This will help you see most of its properties including clarity, cut, and color. This observation helps you in purchasing legitimate and high-quality products. You can check out Lawson Gems for more information. With that said, below are a few factors you can consider while shopping for gemstones online.
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Gemstone color
The color of the gemstone is one of the most significant Value factors you need to consider. Gems come in different colors including violet, yellow, green, blue, and red. These gemstones’ colors are further sub-divided into three categories: saturation, hue, and tone.
Saturation refers to the intensity of the amount of color in the gem. The best stones have deep and flawless saturations. This means it is of pure color with no traces of any other colors. On the other hand, hue refers to the various primary and secondary colors of the gems.
Naturally, gems with bright and vivid colors are the most sort out brands compared to the ones with dull colors. However, this may differ depending on individual tastes and preferences.
Lastly, the tone is described as the lightness or darkness of the color. These color tones range from clear to black. For example, clear or light tones in ruby will make it appear pale-red whereas a dark-toned ruby will appear more like deep red grapes.
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Clarity
The clarity of a gemstone is determined by the level of impurities in the stone. Given the fact that gemstones form from the earth, they naturally exhibit other foreign substances such as insects, dust, liquids, air pockets, and other minerals.
All these enclosed substances affect the value of the stones. Gems with fewer or no impurities are considered more valuable whereas their counterparts drive down the value and the prices of the gemstones.
Nonetheless, this rule may not fall in all the stones. Some stones like the sapphires have star-shaped inclusions embedded in them which makes them more valuable.
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Carat
The weight of these precious stones is measured by a standard measurement known as the carat. This standard weight differs from one stone to another because each gem is made up of different composites.
Before opting for a particular stone always keep in mind that gemstones are sold by weight not size. For instance, one carat of emerald is larger than one carat of diamond in terms of size but they weigh the same.
This is because diamond is denser than emerald. This also means you may pay extra more per carat for stones like diamond, ruby, sapphire, and spinel among others.
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Cut
Most jewelers use faceting to geometrically cut the gemstones into various stylish facets to make them appear more brilliant. The most common types of gemstone cuts include a Ceylon Cut, a brilliant cut, a step-cut eight-cut, and an old mine cut among others.
It is noticeably important to consider these types of cuttings as they contribute majorly to the value of the gems. Consequently, most people tend to confuse between the cut and the shape of the stones.
However, even though both cut and shape are considered gemstone styling terms, it’s important to note the difference because certain cuttings can be made to different shapes.
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Gemstone Hardness
The hardness of the stones also affects their value. For instance, Diamond is known to be the hardest gemstone followed by Sapphires and Rubies. Emerald hardness ranges from 7 to 8 making it the lightest on this rating scale.
This also affects their pricing in that the hardest, which in this case is diamonds will be more expensive than the Emerald. However other factors like the level of impurities also apply.
Additionally, the hardiness of the stone also determines its longevity. The harder it is the longer it will last. if you are going to use it often then you have to look for a stone that cannot be easily get damaged by scratches.
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The return and refund policy
This is one of the most important factors that you ought not to ignore when shopping online. Bearing in mind that you cannot physically interact with the item when online shopping, chances are, you might accidentally purchase something different from what you wanted. For this reason, always check if the seller allows you to check and return the stones once they are delivered if you don’t like them. Plus, always buy from a seller who offers the best return policy.
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Gemstone Details
The seller should be able to present a gemstone laboratory certificate when needed. They should also provide important details such as the color, carat, clarity, and the cut of the stones. This determines the authenticity of the stones.
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Customer’s feedback
This is one of the most important factors that cannot be overlooked when buying anything online.
Information from other users can tell you a lot about the product quality and whether or not the seller is a genuine one. You may also find information about the payment and delivery services offered by the seller.
Always dig deeper into what other customers are saying and contact them if possible before making any purchase.
Conclusion
Online shops have made it easy for most customers to get a particular item with just a click of a button. The best online jewelry shops are those that provide a variety of stones for you to compare and choose from. Likewise, always make sure the dealer is a certified gemstones supplier before opting to purchase from them. The other key thing you need to consider is the origin of the stone you are about to purchase. Some countries produced more valuable gemstones than others, so it’s good to know if what you have has the same value as what you want.
